"When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bounds. Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents come alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamt yourself to be."
Maharishi Patanjali Yoga Sutra before 2200 years.

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Sunday, March 25, 2012

We are an independent nation, enslaved by caste!

Last January 26 was our 63rd successful year of
observing constitutional principles. The beautiful tricolour, the national
anthem, portraits of Gandhiji and Ambedkar, schoolchildren in white — all made
me feel a sense of pride in our nation. Underneath, there are a few little
known things which I am not proud of.

I was in Class III when I was exposed to the caste system. In
a north Karnataka school, whoever belonged to the Scheduled Castes or the
Scheduled Tribes had to stand up in the class and wait for his/her turn to sign
the attendance register. I would not get up. Perhaps, I did not want to be the
cynosure of all eyes. I wanted to sit; I did not want people to stare at me. My
parents, however, did not know about this attitude of mine. There were days
when I missed my rank because of a totalling mistake and the refusal to
acknowledge that I scored the highest marks.

I had to bear the abuse of a teacher in front of the class
for my forgetfulness; on one occasion, sidelining my Sanskrit recitation
skills, a Brahmin girl who forgot her lines was awarded. But there was a
Sanskrit teacher who gave me recognition and opportunities to take part in
school activities. After his transfer, there was a drastic shift in my studies
(never mind! I passed my matric exam with flying colours). There were those
horrific days when some girls who had come to write the civil services
examination did not allow me to touch their lunch boxes! And I had to bear
their constant criticism of the quota system.

Although I am working in a reputed IT company, I was
dumbstruck at the depth of the evil roots of the caste system when my superior
asked me which caste I belong to. I thought we are so advanced that we test
Mars' life samples but here we are, with an almost 1,000-year-old question! I
know of a bright software engineer who resigned his job in a reputed software
company when his colleagues came to know that he ate meat and belonged to the
“forbidden caste” and they started behaving indifferently. I often hear the
slogan, ‘We are not SCs to be untouchable.'

“Let him not give the Sudra advice nor the remnants of his
meal, nor food offered to the Gods, nor let him explain the sacred law — for he
who explains the sacred law will sink together with that [man] into the hell
[called] Asamvrita,” said Manu. How I wish Salman Rushdie explained these
‘sacred' verses too.

I am 25 years old and like a Brahmin boy who does not suffer
from the caste syndrome, eats biriyani in his Muslim friend's home, and does
not wear the sacred thread. I am not sure how I will be welcomed in his family,
thanks to our forefather Manu, who has sown the seeds of dislike towards us. My
father is in administrative service and mother is a teacher, and we have been
educated to be self-dependent all through our life. We are not the
stereotypical Dalits — uneducated and economically downtrodden you find in the
backward regions of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh — still undergoing
caste atrocities. We are educated and financially sound, but the Dalit tag
still harasses us. We don't need the quota or the Rs 150 scholarship given in
school, all we need is respect, recognition, equal opportunity and an open
mindedness to treat us as one among all in society or in any company. After 65
years of independence, India is definitely an independent country controlled by
the caste system!